Eurotek and Avtek to merge under Ion Solutions banner

Dublin-based media technology companies Eurotek Ireland and Avtek Solutions have been amalgamated under one brand – Ion Solutions – and are targeting future expansion abroad.

Eurotek, which was 50 years old last year and supplies broadcasting services, and Avtek, which supplies audiovisual services to conferences and exhibitions, were already sister companies with shareholder bases that mostly overlapped, although they were separately incorporated.

The two companies have fully amalgamated, however, under the Ion banner. They will continue to operate from the group’s offices in Sandyford.

John Roche, the group chief executive, said the rebranded group, which employs about 60 staff, will seek to employ a further 10 or 15 staff in coming months.

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It offers services under three core “pillars” – live events, broadcast systems integration and managed services.

Its clients include RTÉ, TV3 and Croke Park on the old Eurotek side, while the division formerly known as Avtek has worked with the Aviva Stadium and RDS, as well as at large events such as the National Ploughing Championships.

Managed services

It is targeting, in particular, growth in the managed services market, where companies would fully outsource their AV and media requirements to a provider such as Ion for an ongoing service fee.

He said the group had already done some work abroad for Irish-domiciled clients but hopes to pick up clients abroad in the next year or two. He said Ion may look in the near future at opening a European office to help it drives sales abroad.

Ion, which is owned by Mr Roche and his business partners, has invested €150,000 in the rebranding to Ion.

“Over the last two years we have found that Eurotek and Avtek were increasingly sharing resources and the requirement to have two separate companies was becoming less and less,” said Mr Roche.

“There might be a match day at a stadium, and you’d have Eurotek providing technical support services, while Avtek would be inside doing audiovisual work in the corporate hospitality suites. We decided to bring all that together.”

He said its first priority is organic growth in the Irish market and it would consider also making some small-scale acquisitions if they became available.

“But we also feel our services are exportable,” he said. “We do have an aspiration to move into Europe or the UK.”